Cybercrime zeroes in on smart homes

Microsoft can take a breather: Software vulnerabilities in Windows apparently no longer top the list of the most popular gateways for hackers and extortionists in 2017. Criminals are instead targeting drones and smart homes.

As digitization progresses, IT security challenges have changed. This is concretely shown in the latest
Threat Predictions Report
, published by Intel Security’s research center, McAfee Labs. The positive trends that the forecasting team identified for 2017 include a decrease in the classic exploits that use Windows vulnerabilities; attacks using ransomware may also be noticeably less efficient.

On the other hand, attacks on IoT devices are expected to increase, and could allow attackers to take control of entire smart homes without being noticed. Intel Security is also predicting the likelihood of so-called drone-jackings: the pirating and skyjacking or redirecting of drones. In addition, criminals will increasingly leverage tactics from the field of advertising to facilitate and accelerate the spread of malware.